All month long I have been posting diabetes facts and other diabetes related things to raise awareness. I know many people don't bother to read them and frankly, I don't care. It is just my hope that for the ones that DO read them, they continue to educate others and raise awareness.
Today my whole family dressed in blue to help show support. Trey's teacher sent an email to all the parents of the kids in his class asking them to wear blue today to support their friend who has diabetes. Trey took 30 JDRF braclets (we are downt to just THREE of those suckers left! Finally!) to school today for his class, teachers and principal. Truly, this is all we can do! We can TALK about diabetes. We can EDUCATE others. We can FIGHT. We can RAISE awareness. That's what we can do.
So many who have diabetes are silent about it. There is no obvious signs like hair loss or weakness or chemo treatments. Those who have cancer are seldom silent about it. Why do we feel we should be silent about diabetes?
I post about it, talk about it, whip out Trey's kit in public, have his CGM monitor in my hands at the skating rink and I will always be OPEN about it. There is nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of. I don't talk about it or post on Facebook about it for sympathy. Yep, it sucks to have a little boy with a deadly disease, but it would suck even more if I didn't talk about it and educate my friends and family about it because these are the people he needs in his life and in his corner to help him fight this disease. These people I need to know the signs and be aware of things so when he is in their care, they know what to do and how to do it. When he's 15 and you see him with his girlfriend at the movies eating a huge container of popcorn, you can remind him to cover it with insulin (yep, he will hate me when he's 15 and I have people looking out for him!)
Why are we silent about diabetes? That is why the world is so uneducated about it. So many confuse Type 1 with Type 2. People associate diabetes with eating too much sugar and that's false in a Type 1 case. You see jokes about it all the time ... A huge pile of candy and someone will say "looks like I'm going to get diabetes". Wrong. Do we joke about cancer when we see a bald person? No. So why is it we do that for diabetes??? Because we are uneducated. That's my job (among many!) as a mother of a type 1 child ... Raise awareness and educate others about the disease that has changed our lives. People who live with diabetes don't talk about it. They shrug like it's not a big deal. Talk about it. Please ... Talk about it!!! I know all three of you that read this know a person with diabetes other than Trey. Type 1 or Type 2. Talk about it. Educate others about it. Raise awareness. We will never get a cure if we remain silent!!
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